JohnnyC

Never played these, but they're good-looking games.

@Joriss I'm one of those. Pokémon is on my bucket list to get one eventually and give the series a go, as I finally did with Assassin's Creed a year or so ago when I played my first entry in that series (Valhalla). I actually had a Game Boy and was there in the 90s when everyone was going crazy for Red and Blue, but it never grabbed me personally. To date the only entry I own is Pokken Tournament, though I know that's not part of the core series. Didn't even install Pokémon Go when everyone was going crazy for that.

Ah well, one day.

Heartless CEOs and shareholders who expect infinite growth on the same trajectory it was on during the pandemic when many people had more time and more disposable income. Moronic assumption and always has been, in any industry. And as with any industry, it's the hardest workers who care most about their trade who are suffering.

Banjo Tooie and Smash 64 on the NSO app please! That would be a lovely start to 2024 from a gaming perspective.

Whatever it is, hopefully we can also see more SNES/N64 Rare titles this year too.

Prince of Persia is a maybe, I'll see how it reviews. Otherwise I'm focusing on the games received at Christmas for the next few months.

We got Mario Wonder, Hogwarts Legacy, Jedi Survivor and Spidey 2 under the tree. All are being enjoyed equally by different members of the family, and we all agree that they all look great.

Not double-dipping on this. Still got the legacy collection box set for the PS3, and the PS3 still works fine.

@Banksie Sometimes I think the guys in Nintendo enjoy the same special "ingredients" as the Marvel writers back in the 60s who took nonsense like "bitten by a radioactive spider", "exposed to a lethal dose of gamma radiation and somehow survived" and "shrinks the space between atoms" among other things and turned it into perfectly reasonable pop culture.

Whatever makes the magic happen!

Built centuries ago, a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, but not in Breath of the Wild? Gotcha.

This is making the continuity of Fox's X-Men films look straightforward.

In all seriousness, I'm just playing this as I've played other Zelda games and enjoying it for what it is.

Was never going to happen. The trailer looks amazing from a purely technical perspective, and unless there's a massive change in strategy for the Switch's successor I can't see it matching the PS5 and Xbox Series X for performance. Any version of this on Nintendo's next console will be heavily compromised.

One of those Mario Wonder sales was mine, though it's imprisoned in wrapping paper for the next two weeks. Gonna be a good day, as I've got that and Spidey 2 waiting for me.

Respect to the players who compete as ice man, gold man and panda man.

Not worth the RRP. If your only console is a Switch, get it on sale and enjoy three great games as best you can. Anyone who has an alternative gaming platform should really already have at least one of these in their collection.

@dustinprewitt Tetrisphere!!!

Agreed with your list too though. I'd like the F1 games and I imagine there's a few people who'd like the wrestling games, but I imagine licensing issues make that unrealistic.

Spider-Man (2018) isn't my favourite game, but it's a game I very much enjoyed. However, the genius who thought the world was desperate to play as Mary Jane needs a good slap.

Well done Insomniac for correcting this in Miles Morales.

The sequel is under the tree, and I'm counting the days!

In yesterday's news there was a reminder that digital = glorified rental, to be removed as and when someone other than you sees fit. No thanks, I'm continuing with my policy of physical purchases whenever possible.

Baldur's Gate 3 or Tears of the Kingdom seem like worthy winners. Spider-Man 2 probably had more hype leading up to release, but I'm not sure anyone considers it an all-time classic like the other two. Genshin Impact doesn't make sense (I understand the eligibility criteria, but it still doesn't make sense to me) and while I understand Cyberpunk's patches and dlc have massively transformed it from what it was at release, I'd rather give credit to games that smashed it straight out of the gate.

I'm not too bothered who wins what. If Tears of the Kingdom wins loads, fine. If it doesn't and Baldur's edges it, fine. Doesn't change that Tears of the Kingdom is one of the finest games ever made.

What I'm more interested in is the announcements. As someone who also owns a PS5, I really want Sony to end their silence regarding what their huge collection of first-party studios have been up to.

Tears of the Kingdom. 120 hours in, been spending most of that time exploring, doing shrines and side quests/adventures. Got the fourth sage, so decided that this weekend is the time to push the story forwards.

Hard to justify this for £50 if Switch isn't your only gaming platform when the trilogy can be bought new for less than a tenner on other platforms (saw the PS Store is doing it for £7.50) and apparently in better quality. Like other third party titles (Bioshock, Borderlands etc), I expect this to be significantly reduced during the next year. No reason to rush for this at all.

I had a game on the Game Boy called Pinball Deluxe. Really good, quite a few tables, good animations and pretty addictive.

The barren patches and some of the mediocre first-party releases were tough to go through at the time (Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival was a particularly poor title from a major IP). Some solid games in the end, but now that most of the best ones are on the Switch it's becoming increasingly rare that mine gets used.

Picked up The Last of Us Part I on PS5. Been waiting for it to be on offer so this seemed as good a time as any. Yes, I'm an idiot but it's a great game. Already got everything I want on Switch that had a substantial discount. Probably be spending time on Last of Us and Tears of the Kingdom this weekend.

@Elitepatriot The final boss took me loads of tries. That was a really satisfying game to 100%, looking forward to playing it through again.

Such a shame what's happened to this IP from a gaming perspective.

I am all over this! Brilliant game!

@OldGamer999 I don't have either yet, but I agree that Wonder is more of a priority for me than RPG.

Heard my kids moaning about this, and they've gone from being daily Fortnite players to going back to Minecraft. Not too bothered, the less of their pocket money they waste on v-bucks, the better.

Remember the "this will fail because Chris Pratt sounds nothing like Charles Martinet and Seth Rogan bears no resemblance to a monkey" comments? Sorry to say this, but just as I can't imagine listening to Charles Martinet's high-pitched Mario go through a whole script for 90 minutes, I'd struggle with the current version of Zelda at length as well. I've always found her vocal performance to be that of a complete wimp. Nothing against the actress, she was doing as the director asked and following the script, but a like for like portrayal stretched to two hours would get annoying fast.

If they follow the Mario Movie template, they'll probably tell an original story that uses moments from the games. However, I expect Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom to have a particularly big influence based on the fact that they're the biggest sellers in the franchise and therefore more well-known. Like it or not, filmmakers are increasingly looking for as much of a "sure thing" as possible these days when they're shelling out hundreds of millions for production and marketing.

@progx Enjoyed Survival mode on that one a lot, before Zombies became the go-to equivalent. Haven't finished Advanced Warfare. Back in the day when the campaigns were fun.

I still enjoy some of the older CoD games, with the newest one I own being WWII. Never been a fanatic about the series, but they're good for a laugh now and again and still have active online communities. The reviews for this latest one though... Ouch!

I've been playing it steadily since launch and am at 105 hours. (Not a lot of game time)

Finished the first three sages in the first month, but after setting off for the Gerudo sage I first decided to try and get as many shrines as I could, and then I decided to tackle some side quests/adventures. Just been doing that ever since and having a blast. This week I did the Lurelin Village series of quests. No spoilers, but it was an absolute pleasure.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to try out the latest additions. Injustice 2 because it's fab and I've really got back into it in the last month while working through my backlog.

Had jt on Blu-ray since launch.

Link = Ezra Miller
Ganondorf = Kevin Spacey
Zelda = Amber Heard
Troll = Me

(Just having a laugh, guys. Happy Friday!)

Bah! Now I need to get a Daisy amiibo!

Niles: "Remember what mother said - a handshake's as good as a hug."

Frasier: "Smart woman!"

I bought the physical Pikmin 1+2 a couple of weeks ago. Really enjoying that. Planning to go back and finally finish Pikmin 3 once I'm done with those (about a quarter of the way through 2, finished 1 last week, up to the final boss in 3) and then I'll get 4. Hoping to save a few quid on it at Black Friday.

Re-releasing the GC controllers would have been a nice surprise, but probably too much to hope for. Hopefully the Switch 2 has GC via NSO and they release wireless GC controllers.

@Folkloner I said that while it probably is good, it looks cheap. In a period of AAA releases and no shortage of low-budget indie titles, I get why it hasn't captured the attention of the masses.

@larryisaman Agreed. However good it probably is, it looks like a low-budget indie game from the trailers. Whatever sales it gets at full-price will be from established fans of the series. Other Switch owners are well-served in the months leading up to Christmas with top-tier titles.

@BobaTheFett Probably where the kids where I grew up got it. If GamesMaster said it, I'm taking that as the King's English.

Honestly, never heard each letter of SNES or NES pronounced individually until I started watching internet videos. Growing up, we just pronounced it as one word. I know it's an acronym, and I know this doesn't matter at all. Just an interesting observation.

Pound for pound, this pass is a solid contender for best value dlc ever.

@OFFICIALMichi I paid my £5 a few years ago and have enjoyed it. It's a good game, the levels are well designed with some challenge later, it's an easy way to farm platinum coins for icons and the various rewards. For what it costs, it's good value for money. Not the best game ever by a long way, but definitely my favourite of Nintendo's mobile games.

They could maybe start by acknowledging that Hideo Kojima had some involvement in the series.

Finally finished GTAV this week after buying it at launch 10 years ago, and then upgrading twice. Just throwing that out there for those looking at their backlogs in despair.

Hoping to finish Pikmin 1 and maybe make a start on Pikmin 2 after picking up the physical collection just over a week ago.

Been playing Injustice 2 with the kids over half-term. It's a good way of playing a very good Netherealm game with kids without the usual concerns over gore.

Also, see how far I can get in this weekend's splatfest.

I always fancied giving the 2009 game a go due to it managing to reunite the original cast and at the time being treated as the closest we were ever likely to get to a proper sequel. Telltale's BTTF game had appeal for similar reasons and sadly I never got around to that either. Too many games and life's too short to play them all.